They Are Watching

You wake up in the middle of somewhere. Gasping for air. Your breath is running, for whatever reason. Looking around, you’re in the middle of what seems like a neighborhood, though empty as it is. You stand up, trying to process things. Shit. You can’t remember anything. Not your name, not the place you’re at, nothing. Confused, you start scampering around looking for something. 

Naturally, you’re trying to look for help. But the area is dead silent. There’s no sign of life, at all. You noticed after walking around the place for the past 30 minutes. The fear slowly starts to set in. Being lonely in both body and mind is an experience you wouldn’t wish upon your worst enemies–not that you remember, if you had any in the first place. You walk and walk, the loneliness is haunting. 

Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into days, there’s still no sight of anyone. Anything even. It can’t be it. There’s no way you’re the only one left. If so, what even is the cause?

You keep on walking until you stumble upon a minimarket. It must’ve been no less than 100 kilometers already from the place you woke up at. You plan on giving the place a visit, but honestly, you’re more starved for an interaction than you are for food. You approach the place, until you hear something. A whispered shout coming from that minimarket.

“Hey!”

You squint, trying to make out what you just heard, and where it came from–while squinting the eyes might NOT be of help to the sense of hearing, it does feel like it. There’s some flickering light from the minimarket ahead. “Finally” a wave of relief filled your entire body with strength. 

You quickly rush towards it. You just walked past the gate when suddenly you feel pain from the back of your head. It’s not a regular headache. It’s actually far more than that. A blunt trauma. The sensation of heaviness strikes like thunder. You’re about to pass out from it. Moments before your body hit the floor, your eyes catched the perpetrator. Two men hiding just beyond the gate wall, one of them carrying a baseball bat.

Your vision disappears when they walk towards your slumped body. Until everything finally goes black when you hear another footstep coming in.

.

.

.

“Why the fuck did you have to be so violent?! You could’ve killed him!”

“We have to. There are people inside, do you really wanna risk it for one stranger?”

“I told you already, he is NOT a stranger!”

.

.

.

There's a faint voice of people talking for the entire time you’re blacked out. Arguing, even. Are they not on good terms? No. that doesn’t matter. What are they going to do to you? Not that you can do anything about it. Since you keep on slipping in and out of consciousness. But it’s never a bad thing to know what the fuck you’re gonna experience. You have a bad feeling about it. How can you not? The first social contact with anyone for the past few days and the first thing they do is knock you out cold. 

It seems like you’re being carried towards somewhere inside. It’s weird though, how long have you been carried like this?

splash You get hit by a bucket of cold water. Gasping. Successfully waking you up. You try to calm down your entire nervous system. Your danger sense is screaming. There’s three people in front of you. The two men you saw before, and one woman. They all look cautious. Why would they? You’re fucking strapped on this fuck ass chair for God’s sake.

“What are you doing out there? Alone, that is. What have you done?” a man is questioning, his voice is rather calm despite the vigilant appearance. He keeps his distance, but the sheer intimidating presence gets to you still.

“What?” you struggle to answer, you have no memories of anything before waking up days before. You’re confused, scared, and not to mention, your head still hurts from the smash earlier.

“ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION!” the man with the bat starts banging it onto the wall right on top of your head. It graces your hair slightly, there’s dried blood on it.

Again, it shocks your entire being. You tried evading out of instinct. Unsurprisingly enough, you can’t move anything other than the parts from the neck up. Your limbs are tied tightly to the chair you’re sitting on. Hell, even your chest is strapped down.

“Please just answer the question and we will set you free” this time it’s the woman talking. She sounds anxious and worried more than anything.

That damned bat is now resting on your forehead. “If you can’t answer, I swear on my momma you will see your own brain splattering all across the floor. And I love my mum, ya hear?”

You gulp, audibly. It’s literally a life or death situation. You have to say something, anything. “I-I swear, I don’t know anything. I just suddenly woke up in the middle of nowhere, walked all day, I, I was just searching for people! Everything is in ruin, I don’t know what the fuck is going on, I was getting more and more desperate until I heard that voice from the minimarket. I swear on my life that is all that I got, can’t remember anything else,” it takes everything from you to not stutter.

“Oh fuck it, you’re going down now,” the man with the bat is just about to swing it before the other man stopped him.

“Hey, easy now. He just said what he had to say. Don’t just go around killing people. Makes you no different than them,” his voice is still as calm as before. Still holds the same level of authority too. It's chilling you to the bone hearing that. The other man apparently feels the same, as he lowered his weapon. Disappointed, the man with the weapon sighs before leaving the room.

“Sorry about that. He’s just, well, he’s had his reasons. My name is Han, the other guy is Alex. And this woman right here is Wonyoung. sigh Do you at least remember your own name?” the man who introduced himself as Han is kneeling in front of you after saying the last question. His sharp eyes are looking right into your soul. He doesn’t look angry, nor trying to be threatening. But you shiver all the same.

You have no choice but to stare back. “I would tell you if I know it myself, but I swear I couldn’t remember-”

“Leo,” the girl, Wonyoung, cut your words. “Does Leo ring a bell to you?”

Both men in the room stare at her, equally confused.

“Leo! We were dorm mates in Uni, we graduated together too! We were actually pretty close back then. Until you suddenly disappeared from my life…,” she pauses for a few seconds. “...Do you really not remember a single thing?” her voice is stammering. She sounds pitiful right now, her eyes are tearing up.

You look at her, trying your best to recall something, anything, out of your memory. You can’t. “*sigh* I’m really sorry, but I just cannot remember anything… Leo, huh, well, thank you, Wonyoung.” 

Wonyoung is crying. She’s looking down to cover her face with her hair, but the sobbing could be heard quite clearly still.

“Well, I guess there’s that. Leo, nice to meet you,” Han moves his hands to loosen the rope tying you down.

You look at him confused. That easy? Granted, you can’t say that their actions were justified, but they literally tried to kill you a few minutes prior. “Uhm, thanks, Han. Can I ask about where we are right now? And uhm, why was I, you know, attacked like this,” now that your hands are free, you try to feel your own head. You feel that it’s wet, and warm, right on the part directly hit by the bat. You retract your hand to see there’s blood on it.

“I hereby announce my formal apology. bows But, we had no other options. There’s a war going on right now… No need to worry though, we should be safe here in the bunker.”

“What?! A fucking war?!!!” you frown your eyebrows. Struggling to form sentences as a response to that statement. Your thoughts are swirling. 

Before you could muster any words, Wonyoung spoke up. “Humanity right now is no longer considered as the apex predator. There are creatures, things, out there. We never really know what they are, where they came from, how they suddenly appeared amongst humans, or really anything about them. We call them mimics, and they’re…” she’s wiping tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand. She tries her best to make her voice sound tough, but fails spectacularly in the middle of the attempt.

“Mimics?” again, you are so out of it. At least you can respond now. Who would’ve thought you woke up in the middle of what might potentially be the extinction of humanity.

“Yes. They are despicable creatures, to say the least,” Han answered this time, while also patting Wonyoung’s shoulder. 

“-We have little understanding about them. But from the little things that we do know, is that they hunt humans. Not because they need to, it’s mostly because they want to. I think it’s considered ‘fun’ for them. Also, the reason why we call them mimics is because they can morph into humans. Specifically, they morph into humans they’ve eaten. Morphing isn’t the only thing they can do, they also absorb all the humans' knowledge and retain that information for however long they want to. So, say that a mimic has eaten 10 people, that means this mimic has a combined wisdom of 10 people, and can change their form into any person they choose, whenever they feel the need to.”

“That’s…, scary...”

“Yes. But it doesn’t stop there. I said that the mimic retains all the knowledge of the humans they eat. This means, all the memories, personality, everything. They literally become what they eat. The only thing that could distinguish them from normal humans, is only when they feel like it. Or, in special cases, is when a person knows the mimic’s former human so well that they notice subtle differences from them. Other than that, it’s nigh impossible. That is mainly the reason why humanity is slowly losing advantages, we began to destroy ourselves from the inside. The terror of doubting each other, even the closest ones, it’s...”

You look at Han closely, for a fraction of a moment, he’s lost his composure.

“*sigh* Not to mention, they’re about two times stronger than the average joe. Their senses are heightened to the maximum capacities of human thresholds. And they hardly need to eat. Their only weakness so far, that we know of, is that they don’t really multiply, so their number should be limited,” 

Han ends his explanation by closing in on you, whispering right beside your ear. “I trust you, for now. Thank Wonyoung for it. But if you show any slightest sign that you’re a mimic, I will not hesitate.”

His words just then were sharp, cold, and ruthless. He’s scary. You don’t respond to it, can’t. Just as casually as he explains things, he leaves the room with the door opened still. This time it’s Wonyoung’s chance to approach you. She pulls out a handkerchief from her pocket and rubs it onto the wound on your head. “Ugh, I’m so sorry for this, I already told them to not hit you! But I suppose they were right, you were alone, and thus suspicious – ohmygod you’re bleeding so much,” the words stopped on her throat. She’s holding back her tears.

“Wonyoung, again, thank you so much for caring. You’re kind. The me from the past must be so lucky to have you as a friend,” you gently grab her trembling hand on the sides of your head. Her hands are slender, but there’s some unexplainable strength to it. Almost like she had to pretend to be strong for however long this situation is.

She smiled sincerely, her tears stopped. “Yeah, we were ... very good friends”

The both of you leave the room shortly after, Han and Alex were nowhere to be seen, it seems like they’ve gone back to the guard station. Wonyoung guides you to take a trip around that bunker. Yes, bunker. The minimarket is a whole lot bigger than you thought.

“This bunker was actually built for World War 2, but it was over before it ever became of any use. Thankfully it stands strong until this very day, seeing yet another war in its lifetime… Well, anyway! We’re currently at level 0, the highest level. It’s not the safezone yet here, usually we stave off intruders by either interrogating them, or just killing them right away. I really don’t know the details.”

“Kill?”

Wonyoung smiles awkwardly, not really daring to look at you. “Yeah…”

You try to understand the situation once again. Wonyoung must’ve fought them pretty hard then–not physically, of course. “Well, thank you, really.”

“No no, well, I mean, they did insist on killing you at first, but convincing them isn’t as hard as may think it is! I know Han well, he’s softer than he might make it to be. And Alex, well, he listens to Han all the time, so yeah.”

You just nod to her answer, if she says so.

She speaks some more about the state of the world. And how they end up in this bunker. As Han has said before, humanity is losing. Han is lucky to stumble upon the place two years ago. He quickly gathered everyone he knew, and more, into this bunker. That includes Wonyoung, who apparently is a neighbor of his. Though, she says that a year ago the bunker had nearly 50 people inside, but mimic attacks slowly reduce the number to only 10 as of now.

You turn your head towards her. “Seriously? Are humans really depleting that fast?”

“You wouldn’t believe it even if I tell you, hell, even I still find myself refusing to believe things happened the way they are. The mimics first appeared five years ago, at least those that we know of. About a year after the discovery of mimics, people are really, and I mean really quick to be suspicious of each other. Nobody trusted anybody, not even parents and their children. And then, we started killing. It was grim,” Wonyoung stopped her step. In front of you is her, standing behind a thick steel door, inside it is a staircase.

She turns around, a smile forced on her face. “Located below is level 1, the cleaning area. You look like you haven’t had a bath in a month.”

“Heh, if anything, I probably haven’t had one for an entire year or more,” you attempt a joke, thankfully she smiles.

Down the staircase you go. The trip continues in silence. Wonyoung seems to be troubled, it looks like she’s had it rough. You can only imagine what the older version of you would’ve done. The version of you that was good friends with her.

After taking a bath as Wonyoung recommends you to—the water is surprisingly clean and refreshing, for how abandoned the bathroom looked—, she gives you some fresh clothes. She takes it from the laundry located on the same level.

“Do I smell better now?” sassy, you try one more time.

Thankfully, it works. “Yeah. Much better!” she giggles. Wonyoung then tours around the floor one more time to show you the bathroom layout. You also learn that the level below is the deepest, level 2, the living area.

The walk towards level 2 is quite significantly longer than the times spent on traveling between the levels before. Based on her explanation, level 2 is vastly bigger than the others. If level 0 and 1 is a city, then level 2 is a whole state—is what she said.

You wouldn’t believe it before seeing it for yourself, of course. But her words prove to be true as soon as you arrive. It’s seriously hard to believe a bunker like this is hiding below a run-down minimarket. The ceiling is unbelievably high, has bright lights that resemble the outside world, and there were lots of rooms inside, with such a big free space as well in the middle. Also, despite being located at the deepest level, the air isn’t suffocating here. 

“Wow.”

“I know right? It’s actually insane how we just have a bunker as good as this readily waiting. Electricity isn’t a problem, there’s no threat of claustrophobia, and the air right here isn’t really cramped either. Guess I’m one of the lucky ones, heh,” She puts her hands around her hips.

“Where are all the other residents?”

“Dunno, probably sleeping in their room, we have more than enough rooms down here, everyone has their own. Which reminds me, let’s go to yours!”

After a bit of walking you arrived at room number 17, out of the apparently 20 rooms available.

“There are 16 people here? Myself aside” You mumble while entering the room, it is clean.

“No! Haven’t I told you? there’s 10 people in the bunker. You’re the eleventh.” Wonyoung follows you inside and she closes the door behind her. You turn your body around, but before you can register it, she jumps forward to hug you.

“I missed you so much!”

At this point you still have no recollection of her, so this supposedly sweet act is very shocking. That being said, when a girl hugs you unpromptedly, you don’t fight it. If anything, you welcome it. After all, she looks like she needs one. You bring a hand up to rub her back gently. You hug for quite a while. Enough time to notice what she smelled like. She has the smell of a flower, and a gentle one at that. Her body is also very warm, and somehow, familiar. What were you to her before this?

After spending some time in each other’s arms, Wonyoung releases her grasp, she steps backwards a bit, her face turning red.

It is only after the hug that you notice. The woman shyly standing in front of you, is stunningly beautiful. Admittedly, she’s the first girl you see after waking up. Also the first girl you see, ever, by technicality. But that doesn’t take away from the fact the she’s the definition of perfection itself. She has a tall and slender body, while still having the curve in all the right places. Then, there’s her face. An angelic being. Actually, calling her beautiful might be a massive understatement. With her visage, she’s truly ethereal. For someone living in an apocalyptic scene, how can she looks this good?!.

You shake your head. Trying to dismiss further thoughts about her–mostly impure if you let it. “Wonyoung, can you tell me about my past?”

She smiles a pretty one this time, not that she ever isn’t–perchance. There’s a happy air surrounding her. “Of course!”

A week has passed since your arrival to this bunker. Life, as per usual, finds a way. It never fails to amaze you how this bunker is built. It’s a whole living ecosystem down there. A light that acts as the sun, the air that is apparently full of oxygen, and the running water, makes it so that it is possible to actually do agriculture inside. Though it can only do so much.

The designated rooms are very easily switchable. For safety reasons, Han recommended shuffling rooms as early as once a week, could be more if the residents have valid reasons for it. He also advised to have an empty room in between. You also learned that the storage room is scattered in level 2 amongst the designated room. Storage is the only room that is not shuffled. It contains meals, medicines, and everything else in between. Han also stores some amount of weaponry, but nobody knows which room has it since he always kept it secret. He said it’s for safety, though you would argue it’s better to share the knowledge instead of keeping it secret.

Environmentally, it’s awesome. However, socially it is even more so. Remember about the 10 people that are residing here? Well, you met them a week ago after your first day. They were all awesome. 

Including yourself, there are 5 men and 6 women. Han first. He is the decision maker of this group, because of course he is. He’s still just as calm and collected as the first time you met him. It’s pretty much impossible to dig deeper on him, so you just give up altogether. Alex on the other hand is an open book. He expresses what he feels clearly. Although most of the time he is quite on the rude side of things, he's an honest man. The day after you got in, he even came into your room to personally apologize for smashing you in the head. It was rather cute how he lowered his voice and bowed his head so low the entire time he’s speaking with you.

The two remaining men are elderly. Which means they have more than enough wisdom to share with the youngins–everyone else. Problem is, once you get them to talk, they don’t stop. Which is understandable actually, since they have nothing else to do–Han doesn’t allow them to help maintain the place. You spend a small time in your daily schedule to catch up with them.

Then there’s the girls. First up, Leeseo. She is the youngest of the bunch, she joined the bunker right as she graduated high school, when her parents were attacked in their sleep and mimics took over their body. Alex happened to be around to save her back then. Despite her background, Leeseo is the sweetest girl ever. The whole bunker unanimously decided to take care of her as their own little sister.

Then, An Yujin. Or Yujin, as she would like to call herself–and would absolutely kick everyone who called her with her surname. She is kind of the leader of the girls, having the most aggressive personality out of everyone. She repeatedly gets into arguments with Han, for reasons that are mostly really silly. Wonyoung said that she just does that for the sake of arguing and nothing else. As feisty as she may be, she is actually a deeply caring person. Somehow, you feel like she and Han actually resemble each other, personality wise.

Gaeul is next. She’s the oldest of the girls. Being the older one, she has this maternal tendency towards everyone, even the elderly men as well. She’s doing the heavy lifting on the agriculture part. And the housekeeping part. The mom of the bunker, in more aspects than you might be able to think of.

Naoi Rei is a foreigner. She’s originally from Japan, but due to work reasons moved to the country 6 to 7 years ago. Rei is extremely quiet, so you have no further knowledge of her. Though, you can see that she has a soft spot for Leeseoo, since the only time she talks is when she’s together with her.

Liz is the last one you get to know of. If there’s such a thing as a perfect half of each other, then Liz is the missing half of Rei. You mean in the sense of their personality, since they are completely opposite to one another. Where Rei is mostly quiet, Liz is mostly loud. There’s absolutely zero occasion where you don’t find her yapping your–and everyone’s–ear off. Everyone excuses that though, since she does have such a nice voice for the amount of talking she’s got. Also, you can see her hanging around mostly with Rei, something about Rei being a good listener perhaps?--not that she often responds anyway.

The last but certainly not the least, is of course Wonyoung herself. Contrary to your belief, she’s actually very social–you somehow associated her prettyness with pettiness, touche. You couldn’t be more wrong. She’s as kind as she is beautiful. Wonyoung is close with everyone, without exception. She’s also a good communicator, which explains how she saved your life back then. She’s good with her hands too, surprisingly. She’s perfect, there’s really no other words to describe her as a person.

Additionally, Wonyoung has recently let you know that in the past, the two of you were actually lovers, who had to part ways because of a different view of the future. She didn’t want to be bound by something, especially marriage. You, on the other hand, would very much like to stay with her as a husband. That’s what happened. Now that the world is in this state though, nothing else matters beside the presence of each other. Wonyoung gradually gets closer(emotionally) and closer(physically) to you.

“Wake up,” you hear a voice in the middle of the night. It’s stern and demanding. After some hard knocks onto your door, you open the door to see a man standing in front of your room. Of course it’s Han. He’s carrying a rifle.

“Woah, what are you doing?”

“Come with me,” says the man before turning around and walking towards the exit. You reluctantly follow.

“What are we doing seriously?” you grunt behind him. Han ignores the question, he just keeps on walking. You both reach level 0 without any conversation, he stays silent throughout the entire way. Upon reaching the minimarket, he finally opens his mouth. “There’s a mimic outside.”

You almost panic. Luckily Han gestures a ‘be quiet’ move, putting his index finger on his mouth. He whispers. “Alex is ready on the lookout. Relax. He can handle it. This rifle is just for good measure.”

You both sneak into the minimarket. The road seems empty from where you are, but shortly after, a rustling was heard. There was someone, something outside. You couldn’t see Alex anywhere. Your heart is beating faster and faster by the minute.

You see a silhouette under the moonlight, approaching, slowly walking into the gate. You squint, trying to recognize the shape of what’s coming. To your surprise, it is a little girl, no older than 10. You rub your eyes, unsure of what you just see, it is still a little girl. You shake your head in confusion, then see it again, it is still a little girl.

“Are you sure? That looks like a normal girl, she might need some help-”

“I am sure. If she were just a normal girl, she would at least look hungry. Look at her, she looks delighted, knowing that there might be someone to eat inside the minimarket, after wandering for so long. And if I were wrong, I need you to punch me as hard as you can.”

You look at him in disbelief. There’s so much conviction in his words that you just believed right away that he’s in the right. Everything he says sounds like it is holding some truth to it. Anyway, the little girl is approaching faster, she’s half running now. Now that she’s close enough for your eyes to see, you realize that she has an impossibly wide grin on her face. You shudder upon the realization that for the first time in your life, you feel like a prey, in front of that creature.

It barely reaches the gate when Alex all of a sudden comes up through the wall. He’s hiding just beside the bushes surrounding it, so that’s why you couldn’t see him from where you’re looking. Right when the creature passes through the gate, Alex swings his baseball bat as hard as he can into its head. A loud cracking sound is heard immediately. The creature falls on its head, but before Alex can deliver the final blow, its hand suddenly twists backwards to stop the bat from crushing their head, the movement of it is inhuman. Alex, surprisingly, puts a smile on his face as the creature fights back. He looks … excited?

You see the creature jumping sideways, distancing itself from where Alex stands. The impact made from his bat was enough to crush a portion of its head. He swung it a lot harder than what you experienced before–to which you’re somewhat thankful. The creature, now in a deformed state, began to morph into something better suited for a fight. Alex spits on both his hands alternately, before gripping his bat and taking a fighting stance, which is similar to the batting posture of a pro MLB athlete—Han told you so.

The creature screeches. Its voice is painfully loud, almost as if it is mad. Alex on the contrary is smiling even wider. Before finishing its shapeshifting, Alex closes in and attempts to hit it on the head again. Unlike the first time though, it dodges rather easily. Its shape is monstrous right now, the entire upper half is looking all skin, smoothed out, with a size as tall as a basketball player while the lower half still retaining the appearance of a little girl. It has no face, and its skin looks like it's made from mercury.

Alex doesn’t stop there. He quickly rebounds and swings again, now targeting the lower part of the mimic. He’s trying to hit the little girl part. And succeeds he did, it lost its balance after the impact. The mimic staggers for just a fraction of a moment. But that is more than enough for Alex, he pulls the bat on top of his head to then slam it down as hard as he can. The sound of his bat in contact with that mercury looking skin is deafening. The mimic screeches once again, before yielding to the endless pummeling provided by Alex. He won the fight.

“That’s what a mimic is. Make sure to keep your eyes on everything. Always be wary of everyone, always. You got that, Leo?”

You only nod. Mouth still half open due to the scene happening in front of you. It’s mesmerizing. Humanity’s drive to survive. The mimics spine chilling presence. The clash of two beings. Everything is scary, yet fascinating at the same time.

Alex stares at the dead mimic in front of him. He clenches his fist upwards, which seems like a victory pose. He then stretches a bit before pulling the carcass, this time Han comes along to help–and you tail him. They dispose of that dead thing into a hole in the ground a few house distances across the street. They burn it, along with some more carcasses already piling up in that hole. The stench is awful.

“We believe that they might come back to life, so burning them is the safest way of disposal. So far,” Han explains upon returning to the minimarket.

“Yeah. Wow. That was quite the spectacle, Alex. I got chills.”

“Hehe, thanks. Killing those things sort of became a passion of mine,” Alex is the one talking right now. He does sound excited.

You notice that Alex’s hands are trembling. “Are they really that sturdy?” You say, Alex tilts his head to look at you. “Your hands, they’re trembling.” You point towards his hands.

“Ah, these? Yeaaa, I was confused as to what you’re talking about hahahah. 

But yes, their skin is really tough. They can punch straight through our flesh if they do it hard enough. That’s how sturdy it is,” although what he just explained was something seemingly scary, he’s smiling wide. “No need to worry though. As long as I’m around, the bunker will be safe. Heheh! Oh,  and also, guns work on them!” Alex adds, Han is nodding beside him.

“If it helps answering your question, Alex’s first mimic kill happened when he’s around 14. It happened just the day before I found him in his house. He’s 18 now. He has experience,” Han is adding information you initially thought you wouldn’t ever need to know.

The three of them start to set up surveillance for intruders. As per usual, they have to redo everything each day, since it is just an old CCTV. Along with any kind of trap mechanism to prevent a breach to the bunker—mostly bombs. After everything is set up, they go back together to level 2.

Six months have passed. Your relationship with everyone naturally gets better—except for the two elderly men, somehow. 

It’s your turn to clean the bathroom today, along with Yujin. She shoots Han some mean stares when he asks her to do it. Cats and dogs, and you’re not entirely sure which one is which.

“He’s such an asshole isn’t he,” Yujin scrubs the shower tile behind you, while you work on the sink. You don’t answer that.

“Oy, am I talking to a human or a mimic who happen to shapeshift into a fucking rock or something? Answer me shithead.”

“... I think you both are pretty similar,” there’s a silence for a good five seconds before you feel an entire hand choking you from the back. Yujin climbs on you to do a chokehold and drags you down to the floor.

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY? HUH? I DARE YOU TO SAY IT AGAIN!” she screams right into your ear. Her voice is high pitched so it fucking hurts.

“I yield I yield I yield!” you tap her forearm in rapid succession, she’s surprisingly buff. What the hell. 

Yujin releases her arms. You finally breathe. Holy fuck. “Don’t play with me like that or I will actually fucking kill you, you hear me?”

Okay. You retract your words. She’s way more similar to Alex than she is to Han. though, you’re not saying it out loud for survival reasons. Yujin is inspecting you from upclose, though she’s not looking into your eyes. She’s looking, below?

“Dude. Are you a masochist or something? You’re fucking hard,” she points at your member.

“Hah?” you look down. It is indeed pretty fucking hard. “Wait! NO! It’s not what it looks like, I swear to God!” you frantically cover your bulging pants–and fail to do so since it is only a flimsy shorts.

“Pfft. It looks like you enjoyed being choked by me, is that what it is?”

You feel your face getting hot. Your vision is blurring. “No!!”

She’s still holding a laugh, covering her mouth with a fist. But her damn eyes are still looking down cheekily.

You turn around, presenting her your back. “Please don’t tell Wonyoung about this.”

And finally her laugh breaks free. She’s laughing as obnoxiously as she can make it to be.

Your return to the lowest level is somehow the biggest torture you have ever felt in this new life of yours. Yujin never stops teasing you. You can’t fight back, and she knows that very fact, which worsens the situation by at least sixfold. As you enter the level though, she’s behaving herself almost immediately.

“See you around, nice guy!” she waves you goodbye as she enters her room. You feel your face burning up once more.

Wonyoung who watches the whole thing can only ask, innocently. “What happened?”

“N-nothing, just Yujin being a brat, like always,” you scratch your head.

“...”

“...”

“Well, such is Yujin, you just gotta put up with her,” Wonyoung shrugs. “Oh, will you help me cook later tonight? It’s me and Gaeul’s turn, but you can help us out if you want to! This is totally not an attempt to skimp out on workload myself, totally.”

“Y-yeah, sure!”

The night comes sooner than expected. You want to just get the day done and over with.

The kitchen is located right in front of the storage room, for easier access. Though, a kitchen is a generous description for what it is. It’s just a clay stove with woods inside, with one big pan to cook everything–there are smaller pans, but ultimately it is never used since cooking is always done for big portions. Gaeul comes back and forth from the storage, while Wonyoung cuts up the ingredients. You? You sit still and look pretty while watching them do their things.

“Do you remember what your favorite food is, Leo?” Gaeul asks after she drops off the bag of potatoes.

“Uhmm, not really. But for now, I like everything that Wonyoung is cooking,” you answer earnestly.

Wonyoung blushes to your answer, while Gaeul respectfully laughs. “Good man! Using your every chance to flirt on her, you have my respect Leo~” she gives you a thumbs up. The three continue talking with each other, with the main topic being food. Wonyoung likes meat, Gaeul likes sweet things, and you like Wonyoung. It revolves around that for the whole conversation.

The meal is finished by dinner time, as expected. Wonyoung is quick with her hands, and Gaeul is always there to help her out. You? Your main job is to give them emotional support–for Wonyoung especially. The dinner for the night, and the breakfast for tomorrow, is a potato stew with canned elk meat. No need to question how it would taste, because however it may be, you will like it all the same–again, it’s Wonyoung’s cooking.

The next day is a scavenging day. Han orders you to come with Alex. Surprisingly, Leeseo volunteers to help. She wants to know how they work, is her reasoning. That takes a whole conversation with everyone in level 2. They’re afraid something might happen to the dear Leeseo. After much consideration though, everyone agrees to let her come, with the condition that she has to be guarded all the time by Rei and Liz. Yujin did not agree at first, claiming that she’s the strongest and the most capable of protecting Leeseo. She argues with Han for a long time for that, though in the end Leeseo herself succeeds in convincing her to stay for the look out instead, with Han that is–you don’t know how the hell did Leeseo manage to do that, such a big feat.

“You ready?” Alex asks Leeseo as the group is about to go up to level 0. It is by far Alex’s sweetest and most gentle voice.

Leeseo nods vigorously. Rei and Liz, both by her sides, each gives a thumbs up. And so, the group goes onwards. Alex is leading the way, the girls are in the middle, and you are watching from the back.

“Yeah, but do you know? Coconut has a great laxative attribute to it? Especially if you eat the flesh! Though it is nowhere near as strong as prunes. Oh, prunes are really a cheat code, a nibble of it and later in the day you are guaranteed to be a poop factory.”

“Oh really? That’s new to me sis Liz!”

“Yeah! Isn’t it cool? Although I would strongly advise to not eat any during trips like this, hahahah!” Liz laughs to herself loudly. Though still not as annoying as Yujin.

“Liz, Leeseo, shh. Look ahead” Alex upfront halts his movement, effectively holding the entire group still. “Look, there’s a mimic in that house,” he points out a house no further than 3kilometres ahead.

Rei is the first one to notice, you know by her involuntary flinch of the shoulder. You gently grab her shoulder to calm her down. “Azasu,” she nods at you, before crouching for whatever reason.

“Whoa,” Liz rustles ahead, almost passing over Alex.

“Hey, watch it!” he reminds her, you also almost jump ahead to hold this airhead. Leeseo meanwhile is giggling from below, she follows Rei’s crouching.

Liz, although having her hand already held back by Alex, still continues to move ahead. She then unintentionally stepped on a rather crispy branch on the ground.

crackle

“Shit! Everyone go prone, now!” Alex hisses in panic. He pulls Liz down rather aggressively. She groans, but thankfully already covering her mouth with her hand.

You on the other hand is not doing any good. Since the order came so abruptly, you have no chance to reposition yourself. You come crashing down with Rei still beneath your body, so you end up pinning her–Wonyoung, it’s intentional.

It takes several seconds, minutes even, of still and silence, before Alex declares that its safe. After that long awkward silence, you get off of Rei. Your face is red, and your dick is hard. What the hell.

In your defense, it is not exactly a possible thing to do. That is, to hold off your erection while landing right on top of Rei’s–newly discovered–bubbly butt. You unintentionally landed right on those heavenly mounds. Telling yourself–your penis–to not get up is like telling people to open their eyes while sneezing. Basically impossible.

You immediately cover your crotch–stealthily–without anyone noticing. And notice, anyone didn’t! What incredible mix of luck and unluckyness you have today. Except for one person, Rei herself. She’s normally quiet, but in this moment, right here right now, you can’t even hear her breathing. Shit is she passed out? This is not a good place to black out!

“Rei!” you silently call her while shaking her shoulder. She is still prone with her face facing the ground–so is her entire body actually. Leeseo and Liz notice, then they shake Rei’s shoulder in succession. Alex is still keeping guard of the surroundings.

Finally, Rei lifts herself up. Thank God she didn’t pass out. That being said, her entire body is completely red. And also, she’s persistent on pressing her hands on her crotch area, with zero subtlety.

“What happened, Rei-san?” Leeseo asks in a worry. Rei strongly shakes her head, though, it seems like her press on the crotch area is getting stronger too.

“Uhh, I think we should call it for today, seems like the mimic catches onto us. I can’t fight while protecting this many people if I’m being honest. We’ve got what we set out to do anyway, right Leo?”

“Uhh, yessir,” you salute. Your other hand is covering your hard penis.

The walk back to the minimarket is spent in complete silence. Alex is on high alert. Liz is feeling guilty for her stupid act. Rei is, you don’t really know what she’s feeling, but she’s been looking weird. You are desperately trying to calm down your boner. And Leeseo is just Leeseo.

It’s a day well spent.

It’s true what people have been saying. Sleeping is the best medicine. Especially if the sickness is from yesterday's experience. You wake up in the morning having–forcibly–forgotten most of the details. The first thing you do in the morning is to go into Wonyoung’s room. Yes, inside.

Your relationship with Wonyoung have only been getting better and better. Almost everyday since the day you were here, that’s she’s telling stories about you. Specifically, about the days you were with her. You never get tired of hearing her talk, it is with such enthusiasm too! The butterflies in your stomach are violently moving whenever she’s sharing the stories with her oh so adorable expression. That damned doe eyes will be the death of you, you swear it.

It’s been six months, and still you’re not sure. Is the reason you like her more and more is because she made you think that she is suited perfectly for you based on all her stories thus far? Or you really just like her as a person? Either way, you really might start to love her for real, for the second time.

To nobody’s surprise, Wonyoung is just as willing to love you. Day by day you two get more and more intimate. Actually, intimate is an understatement. Wonyoung is a spicy one. There hasn’t been a day passed without you intensely making out with her. Whether it be in your room or in hers—she’s the one initiating it most of the time. At some point, kissing isn’t the only thing you do with her. Oral and handjob from each other is to be expected whenever the two of you start spending time together for a bit too long. Which is exactly what the two of you are doing this early in the morning. Her giving you a loving blowjob in her room. It doesn’t take long for you to erupt all over her face.

“Mmmh. How do I look honey?” she says in her kneeling position. Looking up with half her face covered in your cum. She’s holding your cock tightly as well, sticking it under her jaw.

“Perfectly beautiful sweetheart, like you always are,” you stroke her hair. She is perfect like this. So dirty, slutty, precious.

Despite everything that has happened between the two of you, she still refrains from having sex. Saying that she wants to cherish the moments leading up to it.

A month later.

“Morning baby,” Wonyoung greets you by the bathroom door.

You are buck naked inside. To be fair, you’re taking a shower. “Yow! Ah, Wonyoung, shit you scared me there.”

Wonyoung barges in. She joins you under the shower—already naked. She didn’t bother closing the door, as it is 3 o clock in the morning. People should still be sleeping right now.

She shoves you onto the wall. Kissing you, fishing for your tongue with her tongue as the bait. Her hand grabs your shaft, slowly hardening under her delicate but firm fingers. Her other hand is palming your jaw. “I’ve decided that today is the day honey. We will have sex,” she says in between kisses.

You excitedly respond with an even more intense kiss. This time it’s your turn to push her back flat onto the walls. Your position switched. Both your hands lift her legs up to wrap it around your hips, locking you in. Your cock is now rock hard. It rests snugly against her navel. The heat she emits only adds more fuel to the fire of arousal.

“Here Wony? Hear me. Here, there, bedroom, bathroom, I don’t care. I only want you,” you push forward. Your dick is pressing into her as if it wants to brand her with it. Her modest breasts are pressed in, her nipple might be as hard as your dick right now. She’s moaning.

“OH MY GOD!” 

That scream startles the both of you. You recognize that voice, it is none other than Yujin’s. Seriously?!

You’re thinking of stopping, to delay it for just a moment to close the bathroom door. But ultimately, fuck that. This is your moment, Wonyoung’s too. Who cares if someone else sees it? If anything, let them watch. Should be a good show. 

Those kinds of thoughts are circling around in your head milliseconds after Yujin’s scream. Thankfully Wonyoung who’s still pinned down in front of you tugs your hair, snapping you out of it. You realize her face is as red as a tomato. It might be best to continue it safely in the privacy of the bedroom. You kiss her, a reassurance kiss.

“Sorry Wony, let’s move to the bedroom-” you release her from the confines of your body. You move towards the door, Yujin is still there. 

“Sorry about that, Yujin, hope you don’t mind,” you flash her a smile, with your dick swaying around impolitely. Her pupils are tilting uncontrollably.

For the first time in your entire time living there, Yujin is being timid. “S-sure, sure! Just do whatever you two are doing, I’m, uhh, I’ll just wait, uhhm,” she shyly answers with her hands covering her eyes. But who is she kidding, she’s clearly peeking through the gaps of her fingers.

The door is closed now. You bathe together with Wonyoung. Nothing much happened, just the two of you silently washing each other’s body. The silence of knowing what’s to come. The calm before the storm. The horny storm.

You both finished quickly. Upon leaving the bathroom, you see Yujin still there. You have no idea what she’s doing, well, not like you’d care anyway.

The trip to Wonyoung’s bedroom is thrilling. You can see that she’s fidgeting all the way, much like you are. Once arrived, you make sure the door is closed—and locked—this time. 

“Shall we continue?” you turn your body to see Wonyoung is already laying on the edge of the bed. The bed isn’t really large considering the nature of a bunker, but it is spacious enough to be used for a mating process. A mating press too, if you may.

The towels covering both bodies are long gone now. No foreplay is needed. You’ve been at half mast ever since the bathroom blockage. Upon closer inspection of Wonyoung's pussy, she’s already dripping wet as well. You can’t resist the temptation of eating her out. “Bravo six, going dark.” Down there, you suck, nibble, lick, slurp, chew, swallow, everything. Her pussy is the most delicious meal in the entire world.

“Emhh, Leo...” she’s pulling your hair. “Just.., fuck me alreadyy…, mmmh,” her voice is dripping honey. The invitation is irresistible.

You straighten up. Your hand jerks your shaft slowly, as if it isn’t already fully throbbing by then. The tip is right in front of her entry, but you halted. Looking up, Wonyoung is spreading her legs. Both her hands are holding onto her own knees. She’s opening herself as wide as possible, offering her entire being to you. She’s insanely beautiful.

You bow down to kiss her cheek. “I love you Wony,” she just smiles and gives you an air kiss.

Your tip is penetrating her warm folds. She’s incredibly tight. Getting in fully is impossible. It seems like even she is surprised by how tight her pussy is. She’s breathing unevenly, you gently interlock fingers with her.

“Tell me if it’s too much Wony.”

She shakes her head. “It’s okay, I can take it. Just make yourself feel - ngh! - good!” she’s trying so hard to adjust. It’s pretty cute to see her being so determined.

“As you wish then,” you lean down to kiss her once again. Only this time, you also prod your hips forward. Your cock further nests itself inside her walls. It’s an arduous process to bottom up inside her. But you eventually did it.

“Aaaaarghhhhhh!” she rolls her eyes up once you bottomed up, leaving only the whites visible. She then bites her bottom lip, seemingly trying to avert the pain.

You have to admit. Her tightness is something else. While it mostly feels good, it is also torturous to keep fighting her inner walls trying to push you out. Your hand moves to caress her face. She’s struggling.

“Are you okay?”

“Grrrrngghh!” she couldn’t even form a sentence.

You keep your shaft still. You’re staying fully buried inside to let her adjust, or at least until her breath stabilises. When she’s getting relaxed, you pull backwards slowly. Wonyoung’s hands move from holding her knees to desperately trying to hold your body. She’s looking at you. Her glassy eyes look even more alluring, she’s nodding at you. You keep on pulling until a ‘plop’ sound is heard, and then you fully send your shaft back in.

“NGYAHH!” she throws her head back, her entire body shivers. She’s getting wetter now, a sign that her body is finally fully accepting you.

You repeat this sequence over and over again. Pulling back slowly, until you’re on the verge of her entrance, then slam it back down as hard as you can. She looks more and more blitzed after every repetition.

Wonyoung is frantically squirming under your pin. She’s close, and you are too. You try to synchronize your release with hers, by increasing your pace even further beyond.

“Ah – Leo – keep – going – aaaagghhh!”

“Fuck! Wonyoung!”

“I'm cumming!” you two shout almost simultaneously. You spurt everything as deep inside as you possibly could. She’s squirting on your lower body. You’re hugging her head from up top, while she’s wrapping her hands and legs to your body. You two hold that position until the climaxes are over.

“Leo?” Wonyoung says. You’re still resting on her, face to face with nothing to separate you two. Her eyes are closed. She looks extremely pleased. Your cock is still lodged inside.

You kiss her jaw. “What is it Wony?” you slowly retract your gradually softening shaft. Wonyoung squeals in a spoiled manner once it is fully out. You move towards her side, sitting beside her.

“Hmmmm. Fuck. That was so good. We should do it more often,” she straightens her long sexy legs. Her hands are circling her stomach, right on the spot where she feels the most pleasure.

You look at the time, It’s already 5 AM. “Hahah, yeah. It was really nice. Did we do it a lot back then?”

Wonyoung opens her eyes to look at you. “Yep, but it’s been quite a while since the last time we did it. I’m so glad we can re-experience this as if it’s the first time all over again,” she grins wide. You are so lucky to have her.

Having sex turns out to be such an invigorating way to start the day. The two of you are so energized throughout the whole day.

“What is it between you two? Y’all have been smiling the whole day, Wonyoung especially seems like she’s in a perpetual state of bliss. Hmm, I wonder why,” Liz is chuckling.

Hearing that, Yujin responds flatly. A bit uncharacteristic for her. “I don’t think you want to know, but at the same time, I think you already know what it is anyway,” to which Liz just shrugged her off.

You can only smile awkwardly at them. Rei is staring from a distance. She knows. To be fair, how could she not? Her room is the closest to Wonyoung’s. She’s heard all of it. However, it might not be a bother for her as she is also getting wet earlier from hearing the noise alone. She would never admit to that though.

Gaeul quickly picks up on it too. But being as wise as she is, she chooses to shy away from those conversations. She also sticks around Leeseo for the whole day, to protect her from such an impure topic.

It’s dinner time. Everyone gathers in the middle of level 2, as per usual. You see Han coming out of the pantry, he looks grumpy—more than the usual. Alex to your right notices that too, so he quickly stands up to approach Han. After some exchange of words, the two of them nod towards each other.

Dinner went on normally, despite that weird interaction you saw before. The uneasiness doesn’t go away, you feel like there’s something wrong. Thankfully nobody else notices. After dinner, when everyone has entered their rooms, you visit Han’s.

.

.

.

knock 

“Come in” Han’s voice is heard from the inside. Almost like he’s been waiting for you.

“Uhm, I suppose you already know what I am here for” You say after entering his room, purposely not closing the door behind you just in case.

“What are you here for?” his words are straightforward. His eyes are as sharp as ever.

“Okay, uhm, about what happened in the pantry. I saw everything, what was it?”

Han holds his breath shortly, and sighs before answering the question. “Frankly, I think we have a mimic here.”

You’ve prepared for the worst long since he explained the world’s situation when you came here for the first time. Even this exact scenario here is somewhere along the lines of your mental preparation. But hearing it in person, straight from Han’s mouth too, still successfully makes you shiver.

“ ... Why is that? ...”

“We have enough food to sustain the place for at least another 5 years, given that everything is going on normally. I have even added some extra stock in case we suddenly have a spike in our headcount. But, just last night, almost every type of food in the storage was either completely gone or is in a totally ruined inedible state. It happened in the timespan of only one night. Only a mimic would do such things, with such efficiency too. As of now, we have no more than a week's supply of food and water,” Han’s words are heavy this time. So heavy in fact that he himself had to rest his forehead on the palm of his hands.

“D-do-do you think it was me?” you stutter, your legs are getting weak.

He glares at you. “No. At least not for now. I don’t really know if I’m being honest. What’s more important is, we’re compromised.”

You shudder at the thought of everyone’s safety. Especially Wonyoung's.

“What should we do?” you ask.

“The safest option would be to relocate. But we can’t just do that right away. Most importantly, we cannot let the others know for now, lest there would be panic. And in my experience, that is even worse than the threat of the mimic.”

“Okay. Does anyone else know about this?”

“Other than you? Just Alex. He’s on high alert too right now.”

“If it’s done around last night, I think Yujin is-”

“Don’t,” Han abruptly stops your words. “Once you become suspicious towards one person, it’s very, very hard to get rid of the thought. And the next thing you know, there’s blood on your hands. Don’t do that, please. Besides, do you have concrete evidence to prove it?” his voice is calm, but you can sense that he’s hiding a tremendous anger behind those words.

“Ah, I’m sorry, I’m just talking right out of my ass there. Sorry”

“Okay. sighs. We have to restock tomorrow, relocation would not be that easy to do, and logistically we don’t have the means to move eleven people safely, at least not with what we have right now. We’re going to need some more weapons, ammunition, and most importantly means of transportation. Worse come to worst, we’re traveling by foot”

“You’re coming with me tomorrow, so rest up. It’s gonna be a long day, possibly a long weekend. Oh, and I really don’t mean to pry, but you should personally tell Wonyoung about this.” Han ends his explanation and then stands up to walk towards the door.

“Wait wait wait, what do you mean by that-”

“I think you know what I mean. Now, would you please leave my room?”

So you leave the room. Confusedly, you think to yourself. “Was he being bitter just now? Wait, no fucking way. Does he like Wonyoung too?!”

Come the next day. The first thing you do is come into Wonyoung’s room. She greets you happily.

“Baby!” she jumps into your hands, and tries to kiss you too.

You, of course, welcome her to your embrace. “Come here Wony,” you make out with her for a bit before grabbing her shoulders to hold her down.

“Wony, Babe, listen to me,” you put on the most serious face you’ve got. She has to understand the gravity of the situation. “This place is no longer safe”

Her brows furrowed. “What?”

You hug her for a moment. Before returning to that position. “We potentially have a mimic among us. We don’t know who it might be, I mean, It doesn’t matter who it is. What matters is that we have to move before everything gets worse.”

Her face darkens. She immediately looks terrified. Seeing that, you quickly hug her again, this time even tighter. 

“No. Baby, it can’t be. Why? I love this place so much, I love the people, I love ... us,” she’s crying.

“I know. If push comes to shove, would you rather we escape together? Just the two of us?”

Wonyoung looks up. Those teary eyes of hers, again, what the hell is it that makes her eyes so incredibly captivating?. “Only if it’s truly the last thing to do. Then yeah, we should be together. I don’t want to ever lose you, not again.”

You only smile. She’s still clinging onto you. “Wony, I also have to go out with Han, to prepare things. I’ll probably be away for a day or two, please keep yourself safe, okay?” 

She nods in your embrace, tightening her hands on you.

Alex greets you and Han at the entrance of the minimarket. “You ready?” Alex asks.

“Not really, but do I have a choice?”

“Good answer,” Alex chuckles.

The plan is to gather resources and leave the bunker’s protection to Alex. He claims that it will be safe from outsiders. Han backs him up on that, saying that he has been guarding the bunker for as long as they’re together for it to never be breached. If it’s from the inside though, they’re unsure.

“Alex, you guard on level 1 and leave all the traps outside activated. I would risk no casualties on our side. If you notice the mimic, move silently. And if, God forbid, there’s a breach, prioritise keeping the residents safe. Is that understood?” Han puts one of his hands on Alex’s shoulder.

“Sir yes sir!”

Off you two go. There isn’t much of a talking from that point on. The tension of uneasiness however is at a maximum, for you at least. It isn’t until you’ve spent half a day rummaging through a deserted city approximately 70kilometres away from the bunker that you fail to contain your worry.

“Han,” you call, but then you hesitantly hold on to your words.

“If you have something to say, just say it to me.”

“Yeah, well. Sorry, I’m just really worried about the people’s safety. They have no means to defend themselves other than Alex.”

Han stopped what he’s currently doing—he was trying to turn on the engine of a van just lying around on the side of the street—to look at you. “Do you not believe in him?”

“I do, I believe him, but again he’s just one man. I get that he is reliable, but now that he knows that there is a mimic waiting inside, and not to mention the threat of the outside, I couldn't help but to think that he wouldn’t be enough. If he fails, the girls would have no means of-,” the words couldn’t get out from your throat, the weight of it is suffocating.

“That’s fair. You don’t really know the extent of his story, do you? It’s my fault for that. Well, let me tell you about Alex. Killing mimics is what he is good at. You do remember what I told you about him?”

You nod to that question. It seems like Han really put Alex in high regards.

“Alex didn’t just survive the attack of those mimics in his house. He beat them. Furthermore, the mimics were using the body of his parents. He was alone, fighting, with only a baseball bat gifted to him on his birthday just weeks before that bloody day, and he won. He was still a kid back then. Not that he’s an adult now anyway, but you do realize what that kind of experience makes you. At that point, I honestly no longer see him as someone normal. He’s a weapon to me. My most trusted one.”

“It is impressive. Has he ever lost a fight to a mimic after that?”

“As far as I’m concerned. No. But at some occasions a mimic could be so strong that I had to lend him a hand, or a bullet to be specific,” Han returns to work on the engine.

“Wait. Have you ever considered the possibility of him being one?”

He stops once again. His expression was about to show anger, but then quickly changed into panic.

“Shit.”

“What?”

Han looks at you. “I never did. I simply trusted him from the day I found him. And being together for all this time has let my guard down towards him. No. It's probably more fitting to say that I never even have the thought to think that he could be a mimic. 

Fuck! This is bad. The only one who is capable of doing all the meddling is none other than him as well. Honestly, when you mention Yujin, I immediately thought of her being the mimic too. Solely because she was always snooping around so early in the morning for no reason other than to annoy me. But now that I think about it, she just does that to-”

“Han, to what? What are you going to say?”

“THE WEAPONS!”

Both of you are panicking. All this time, Yujin might have been trying to arm herself  just in case things like this happen. She never succeeded in doing so. But lately she’s been really getting closer and closer in having access to Han’s weaponry. If she does get it, then that would mean the mimic would have no chance to make a fuss. After all, who would dare to make a mess under a gunpoint?. The mimic is preventing that from happening.

“We have to go back, NOW!”

The two of you arrive the next morning. The return is still done by foot since there was no luck in finding a working vehicle. Not to mention on the way back you encounter a mimic just wandering around a school. You have no choice but to kill it, luckily Han is an expert marksman, it helps a lot. But after that one kill there were a swarm of them, no less than five. All rushing at you at once so you have no choice but to back away and re-strategize things with Han. In the end, you both just avoid them entirely by taking a round about trip to the bunker. Which almost doubled the trip duration

Upon arriving, the minimarket is in a bad shape, worse than it already was. It seems like the trap mechanism activated. Which means that there was a breach. You two rushes inside the building. It’s quiet. Too quiet.

Level 0 is empty. 

Level 1 isn’t. Where Alex is supposed to be, is wrecked. He is nowhere to be seen, but his bat is there lying around, so you pick it up. There is wreckage almost everywhere. Also, bodies. 

You flinch, Han doesn’t. You spot one of the elderly men lying on the sink. Blood is spilling from the chest below, dripping on the sink, almost entirely filling it. You can’t see his face, nor his entire front for that matter, as he is lying face down, but sure enough he is already dead. 

The other man is located in the shower, also bathed in blood. His body is bent far from the limit of a normal human. You can almost see some of his bones protruding from his chest. He is looking up, his face shows a terrified expression. You had to look away after that.

“Sorry gramps.”

You quickly leave the floor to head towards level 2. At this point, you should really brace yourself for the worst possible outcome. But, what you see for the next minute absolutely blows the dreading expectation out of the fucking park.

The thick steel door guarding the level is blown to bits. The lights inside are glaringly bright, as if it tries its best to hide you from the grisly scene unfolding inside. Once you get adjusted to it, you immediately tunnel vision your eyes towards Wonyoung’s room. You can see Yujin sitting in front of it. You see her holding a gun. Thank God, she found the way to the weaponry just in the nick of time. 

But why is she holding it so loosely? Her hand is on the ground too, isn’t there a mimic around? Her index finger isn’t even placed on the trigger! That’s dangerous Yujin!

Then you start to broaden your stare. You slowly realize the state that she’s in. She looks straight ahead. Her eyes are wide open, completely absent of light. She has tears on her cheeks, it’s almost dried up. There’s blood trickling from her mouth that is half agape. 

Then you see her body. Yujin no longer has anything below her navel. Her entire lower body is gone. You can see her legs are blown apart, and scattered around her. Her organs are spilling out, painting the entire front side of Wonyoung’s door red. You fall to your knees, throwing up. But the horror continues.

As you fall down, you notice there’s a crunching sound coming from the figure you can vaguely see from the corner of your eyes. It is sitting, in the middle of everything. The mimic doesn’t even bother to take the form of another human. It looks slender, every part of its skin is smooth and mercury colored. It is munching something, someone. 

You reluctantly focus on the creature. It is holding the body of a lifeless Liz, while sitting on Gaeul’s mangled body. The creature seems to be eating Liz from the face down.

Your emotions are broiling. Fear, sadness, despair, anger. All pointed towards that despicable creature, who seems to continue its feast despite noticing you and Han. You look up to Han still standing beside you. His hands are trembling too. His brows are furrowing. He is biting his own lips until it bleeds. He can no longer hide his emotions.

“Ah, you guys part of the group too?” The mimic starts talking. “Too bad, I started too early, seems like. No worries though, I’ll let you guys watch me finish these meals. Especially that one by the door. Ooh, boy was she so feisty! I love her! Look here, I even lost my arm because of her. You guys believe that? Hahahah! Best believe me when I say I will enjoy savoring her,” It is laughing.

“Shut up,” your mouth trembles in anger.

“I will eat her last. By the way, this here with the loud mouth also tastes surprisingly good. Her tongue is so delicate! The texture is on point. Not to mention, she has such a pretty face. Too bad this shortie here tried way too hard protecting her, so I just folded her up into a chair. Quite the artistic one aren’t I? You should be thankful, not everyday you can witness the work of a maestro~

Oh, and don’t even think that I forgot about the other three hiding behind that door. Oooh, I can’t wait to see their frightened face-”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” You scream. Simultaneously, Han points his rifle right on him. BANG! 

Alas, it is fully prepared for it. The mimic quickly let go of his hold on Liz and jumped to the side. Han however is more than ready to see that maneuver too. He already reloaded before the mimic jumps. Then he quickly aims at the estimated trajectory of the mimics movement. 

BANG! 

This time, the bullet hits the chest.

The bullet slows down the mimics movement considerably. You lunge forward, Han readies himself to give you some supporting shots. You swing the bat you’re holding towards the mimic's neck at full force. You learned the stance from witnessing Alex in action back then. The mimic’s skin is indeed tough, but it’s not invincible. Having received a blow on its arm,on his chest, and now a hit on his neck, the mimic staggers quite a lot. This gives you the time to land another hit on its head from up top. A loud crushing sound is heard. Your hands clatter along with the deafening sound.

You think it is done when you see the mimic collapsed. But it is not over, yet, just as you lower your bat to the side, the mimic stretches his remaining hand towards your head. It tries to thrust your head clean off. 

Han is on high alert this whole time, he was ready. When the mimic tried to launch his last desperate attack, Han had already been aiming at it. 

BANG! 

It’s a headshot.

You and Han are panting. This mimic is considerably stronger than what the both of you have faced so far. It is cruel and intimidating. Is it luck that you two succeed in killing it? You see Han behind you, both him and his rifle are still standing straight in shooting position. 

He is crying on the stock. You approached him to give him a hug.

There isn’t any talking. You just hug him. He spent the next few minutes crying on your shoulder. After it’s done, you look at each other briefly. Then towards the area, specifically, at the bodies lying around. Han signals you to go towards Wonyoung’s room while he looks for something to clean the place and cover up the horrors.

You arrive in front of Wonyoung’s room. “Wonyoung, if you are inside, please wait a little bit more,” you speak a bit loud.

You gulp deeply. There is someone down there that you have to look for. Some body. You brace yourself one more time, then look at Yujin still sitting there. A tear runs down your cheek. Her dying face doesn't show any sign of fear, if anything, she looks like a hero.

“I’m sorry, Yujin,” once again you cry in front of her. 

You wipe your tears away. You crouch, then move your hand to close her dark, wide opened eyes and mouth. You wipe her face clean from all the stains. Doing the best you can to honor her. Once her face is clean, you caress her head one more time before standing up. Yujin’s body are everywhere. Collecting all her scattered body parts in one place takes some time, but you managed. You move all of Yujin’s to the middle of the level. 

Han has already put Liz’s and Gaeul’s bodies in a position as humanely as possible. You line all of Yujin with them. Han then moves to cover them with some bed sheets he gathered moments before. It turns red in color as soon as the fabric makes contact with the bodies. This is as proper a burial as it could get with this condition. You two sob together.

You knock at Wonyoung’s room after some time. An unlocking sound is heard, the door opens ever so slowly. Inside, Wonyoung’s trembling hands point a measly scissors towards you. As if it’ll make a difference if you were indeed a mimic. You grab her hands slowly, reassuringly. “It’s me Wony, It’s Leo. I’m still your Leo.”

Wonyoung immediately slumps to the ground after that. She’s been holding it together this whole time. She just breaks down when she is sure that you are not a mimic. You then realize that behind her is Rei, she’s holding Leeseo in her embrace. They’re both crying quietly.

“Everything is safe outside, for now” Han peeks inside. Seeing all the women crying, he continues saying. “We should be safe for today, I’ll do my best. We move tomorrow, okay?” before leaving you alone with them.

“I’m sorry,” you kneel to hug Wonyoung, kissing her head. Then you move towards Rei and Leeseo, hugging both of them at the same time. “I’m sorry girls,” you leave the room after that, shortly, just to catch up with what Han is doing.

“Need a hand?”

“Oh, yeah, of course. I hope the girls are fine. I’m not good at calming people down.”

“Probably not.”

“...” Han is trying to not let another tear come out.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that”

“Yeah no, it’s fine. At the very least I’m glad we still get to see some of them alive.” Han wipes his eyes with the back of his hand. You nod to him. You two proceed to fortify what’s left of the bunker, to make it at least somewhat safe for the night.

“Was the mimic Alex?” you speak as slowly as you can to Han while setting up the barrier.

“I don’t think so. Alex would be much stronger than that,” his voice no longer has authority in it. He looks and sounds so defeated. You just pat him in the back. Let the silence speak for the both of you.

The barrier is done just enough to protect Wonyoung’s room. You and Han brought the resource you’ve gathered before, plus the remains from the pantry. Han briefly explains to everyone inside that they will split the carrying duty to you and him. To your surprise, everyone is willing to help, so in the end the load is split evenly between all. Then he explains that they would be traveling by foot. Again, no one is complaining.

The talking session ends short. Everyone is still processing the terror that happened. The stench of blood is inescapable. 

You and Han were already on the verge of passing out by the time because of the smell once you entered level 2. But the girls left here smelled it for the entire time. They also heard what was done to Yujin, Liz, and Gaeul in minute detail. They will forever bear that terrorizing experience. Another thing, they also have to live by the fact that the three probably sacrificed their life for the others. Especially Yujin and Gaeul who by their expression alone seems to be fighting until their very last breath—you’re unsure of what happened with Liz solely because her face is no longer recognizable. You cry in thinking how it must’ve felt for them being there.

The day passed in a quiet manner. You sit beside Wonyoung the whole time, she is also leaning on you throughout the day and night. Rei and Leeseo seem to be getting closer. Han is just being Han, he rests alone in the corner, closing his eyes. But nobody actually slept last night, even knowing that there would be a long day ahead. The terror is just too much to be swept away in one night.

“Okay, the formation will be me in the front. Leo is guarding the back. And you girls will position yourselves in the middle of us. Try to stick as close as you possibly could towards each other,” Han explains shortly after the breakfast session—which was understandably short since no one was having the appetite.

“We will encounter mimics throughout the way, that’s something I can guarantee. In that case, I want everyone to not panic. And possibly watch them closely while still keeping each other's back. Mimics are cunning, they would try to exploit any weakness we might have, so try to look tough on whatever scenario that is happening. Any questions before we go?” everyone shakes their head.

You and everyone readies themselves up. Han is fully armed with that beloved rifle of his. You have Alex’s bat. The girls are unarmed due to the shortage of weapons. Although if you consider a metal pipe—which Han obtained from the broken bathroom—to be a lethal weapon, then Wonyoung is armed.

The journey starts. All of you walk in a tight formation. You can feel that everyone flinched at the sight of the covered bodies in level 2–and the bathroom. 

Han offers them the chance to say their parting message. Leeseo is the only one taking the chance, stopping in front of Yujin, Gaeul, and Liz to give them a prayer. She also gives each of them a handmade flower from food wrappings, which she probably made last night. Wonyoung and Rei only watch from the side, both are crying.

The pack reaches the entrance to the minimarket to see Alex waiting there. He looks anxious. Correction, he’s putting on a worried face. Han isn’t getting any of it though. He’s straight up pointing his rifle towards him.

“Han, I’m sorry! I couldn’t fend the mimic off. I get that you’re angry, but let down the gun would you?” Alex is trying his best to look pitiable. Which, after the fact, is completely sickening.

“Shut the fuck up you disgusting creature,” Han says, his voice is full of contempt.

“Heh, so the mask is off huh. Well, can’t say that I didn't try. It’s really quite a disappointment that you failed to save all the people, Han. Aynwah was not even our best fighter. You should’ve done better,” Alex shrugs. Right after saying that, his form quickly turns into that of an abomination. He, or rather, it, changes its shape into the mix of Alex’s parents and Alex himself.

Han, thankfully, is deadly calm. The mimic is trying to agitate him, and he knows that. Rather than falling into the provocation, he shoots it. 

BANG! 

The mimic of course immediately dodges and jumps forward, closing in the distance. Han isn’t a close fighter, it knows that. 

BANG! 

The bullet narrowly misses this time, only grazing its head. Han has no time to reload again. The mimic already straightened its hand to slash him into two. Han sidesteps swiftly. The mimic expected that already so it changes the trajectory of his swing and succeeds at stabbing his stomach. To your eyes however, Han’s move looks deliberate.

Han understands that this mimic knows his weakness. What it doesn’t know though is Han is also prepared. Even if it means sacrificing himself. He baits it until it got very close, which is exactly what is happening right now, before pulling out the handgun from under his coat. Nobody knows about that, not a single person from the bunker knows that he has a secondary, not even Alex. 

*BANG!* *BANG!* BANG! 

Three consecutive shots echo throughout the aisle. It hits the mimic right in the chest. Normally, that would’ve killed it. But this mimic is different, it’s stronger than most. Han doesn’t have any more moves in his arsenal. Before he is able to point his gun at its head, the mimic already shoves its hand right through his chest. It is holding his heart, outside his body. Han is dead.

You immediately run towards the front. But it already moved before you did. A predator's natural instinct is to sever the weakest link of the chain. So it jumps towards Leeseo who’s standing in between Wonyoung and Rei. You notice it late. The mimic turns out to be much more desperate than you thought.

The mimic throws its hand towards Leeseo in an attempt to kill her with one blow. Wonyoung jumps forward, but she fails to hit its hand with her metal pipe. Rei also jumps forward, not to attack, but to shield Leeseo.

“Urghlk-” A hand pierces through Rei’s chest. Her blood splatters onto Leeseo’s face.

“NOOOOO!” Leeseo screams.

Wonyoung shifts her body to stab the mimic stomach with the metal pipe. She succeeds at it. Your move does a great help to that. You notice what Wonyoung is trying to do, so you slam the bat on the other end of the pipe. Sending it straight through its body. The creature screeches.

The mimic is weak now. You gesture to Wonyoung to pull its hand out of Rei’s chest. It doesn’t offer much resistance. Rei falls on her back, Leeseo behind her catches her weight. You and Wonyoung pull the mimic and throw it away as far as you can. You’re standing beside it, then quickly swing your bat as hard as possible into its head, multiple times, crushing it. Until it’s finally not moving anymore.

With your laboured breath, you look at the three girls behind. Rei is still faintly breathing, the mimic misses her heart. However the gaping hole in her chest is not something that is possible to recover from. Her breathing gets weaker and weaker.

Rei is lying down on Leeseo’s lap. Leeseo is drenched in Rei’s blood, they hold each other’s hand. Wonyoung beside them is trying to press on the gaping wound in order to stop the bleeding, to no avail.

“Rei-san, please, don’t leave me, please,” Leeseo is crying. Her tears are falling onto Rei’s cheek.

Rei, on her final breath, attempts to lift her hand towards Leeseo’s cheeks. She cups her face with the bloodied hand. “I – am – sorry,” her hand drops soon after. Rei’s gone. She smiles in her death.

The sight of Rei passing away in Leeseo’s embrace is fucking painful. Leeseo is crying hard on top of her. Wonyoung is beside them, crying just as hard, she couldn’t do a thing about it. Seems like each and every one of you is drowning in guilt and sorrow.

You move first to look for something to cover the bodies with, leaving them for a short while. 

.

.

.

“Wony-” you choke on your words.

Wonyoung is holding Leeseo up by the neck several inches off the ground. Strangling her. Leeseo is desperately trying to get off from the chokehold. She’s gasping for air. Her fingers are clawing into Wonyoung’s arm. Her legs are lurching around uncontrollably. Wonyoung is smiling so wide at the sight of Leeseo’s horrified expression in front of her. Leeseo tries her best to free herself. She couldn’t.

Your arrival behind Leeseo signifies the time for Wonyoung to finish her off. Once Wonyoung sees you, she snaps Leeseo’s neck. “Oh, hello Leo!”

crack 

The flailing limbs immediately fall down and stop moving. Leeseo is hanging motionless in Wonyoung’s palm. She dropped her. You jump forward to catch Leeseo’s slumping body. Wonyoung is laughing so freely.

You couldn’t process this. How could you? You just saw Han fighting for his life to fend off a mimic, dying in the process. You just saw Rei eagerly giving up her life to save Leeseo. You saw the atrocities done to Yujin, Gaeul, Liz, and those old men. Now this? What the fuck is going on.

You are sat there, petrified. Leeseo’s breathless body is in your hands. You look at her, her eyes are wide open, she looks aghast. She hasn't had the proper time to process Rei’s parting. To have her life taken away by someone she’d consider a close friend, a sister, is nothing short of tragic. She died in horrible agony. 

You can only do her a favor by closing her fear-stricken eyes and wiping off the blood and tears from her face. You sincerely apologize to her and hope that she have a happy afterlife. You put her body softly on the ground, before confronting the perpetrator who’s standing in front of you. Wonyoung is cackling the whole time.

Your heart is beating so fast that you can’t hear anything else other than that. Your whole body is burning up. Your head is heavy. Your gaze is blurry. You can barely stand up, before bringing yourself at head level with Wonyoung. 

Why? Is the main question. Why did she do that? Why now? Why Leeseo of all people? Why would she let you live? Why?

“You – urf – hurgh – argh,” you throw up in front of her. Deep down, you already know the answer. But you just refuse to believe that.

“It’s just us now. Are you having a hard time babe?” That word. That damned word. It could not be worse than that. Right now, you’re scared of her. You hate her. If you could kill her, you would have. But that word, babe, that damned fucking word. The realization dawns on you. You could never harm Wonyoung. You love her far harder than any other feelings you have for her.

She closes in on you. In your extreme state of confusion, you couldn’t move a muscle. You accept the fact that you’re going to die in the hands of the love of your life. Who would’ve thought? You loved a fucking mimic. What a pathetic end to what you would consider a very short lived life.

smooch She kisses your lips. Her hands are wrapping your head, not harshly, far from it, she grabs your head in a sweet and loving manner. You’re terrified. Disgusted. But above all, you long for her touch. You despise yourself for accepting that kiss.

“Ah ... ” She gasps, releasing that plump lips of hers from yours. There’s a string of saliva connecting the two of you still. She sticks her forehead onto yours. Her wide sparkly eyes, now stained with blood and the sin of murder, are still as mesmerizing as ever.

“Babe, do you still not get it?” Wonyoung breathes slowly, sensually. You are indeed still in the dark.

“Ah, I get it. So the whole losing your memory thing isn’t a facade? Haha, here I thought you were putting up an act to fool them all. You even made me believe that. So you really don’t remember anything?” Wonyoung looks down, she’s laughing in disbelief.

“Well. I guess the best way to remind you is to just do this,” she suddenly grabs one of your fingers and bites it clean off.

“Argh!” You instinctively move back and hold your hand up. There it is, your insides. It is mercury colored.

Your eyes widen in shock. What. The. Fuck. This is a day of despair. You want to run away. You try to run away. But how can you run if the problem is yourself?. Then you stumble upon something. There it is, you see Han lying there. An answer, in the form of his rifle. In a swift moment you have the rifle in your hands, locked and loaded. You point the gun towards Wonyoung.

“Babe, no, wait!-”

BANG!

Her body crashes onto the floor.

You point the gun to your own head.

BANG!